US GAAP vs IFRS Essay

Pologeorgis (2012) stated that the diversity of accounting principle has an essential impact on the stock markets, corporate management, and financial reporting. He pointed that when people seeking for international capitals, varies of dissimilar accounting principles create discrepancies in their financial reporting. If people cannot understand the differences between IFRS and GAAP, they may have the chance to make the wrong decisions and loss money in the capital markets. Pologeorgis (2012) also mentioned that international investors have to relearn the new principal in order to be more familiar with the international standards. Based on above, there is a keen motivation for people to understand the differences and similarities of GAAP and IFRS. This research will show business people the main similarities and differences of GAAP and IFRS.

The authoritative guidance for asset impairment is to ensure that impairment is recorded and dealt with as depreciation. The scope of the standard is writing off of assets and depreciation. According to the guidance of 360-10-35, it address how long-lived assets that are intended to be held and used in an entity’s business shall be reviewed for impairment. The impairment loss can only be recognized if the carrying amount of a long-lived assets is not recoverable and

The five research articles I have chosen to further my research on the convergence between U.S. GAAP and IFRS are The Implication of US GAAP and IFRS Convergence on American Business by Austin Willmore (2015), IFRS adoption by country by PWC (2015), International Financial Reporting Standards and American Generally Accepted Accounting Principles: the Convergence Lessons by Kuzina (2015), The economic impact of IFRS - a financial analysis perspective by Seay (2014), and Accounting for Leases The New Standard by CPA Journal (2016). These articles are related to my topic, where these researchers researched and analyzed the financial statement reporting on convergence of the U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), and certain accounts when adopting IFRS present a different result in the financial reporting for U.S. reporting companies when U.S. GAAP standards combined with IFRS. Also, these research articles discuss the existence of two systems of standards, U.S. GAAP and IFRS; and the issue and difficulty of the process to fully converge.

Some of the differences between US GAAP and IFRS are embodied in the standards themselves. They are intentional deviations from US requirements.

Although the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) have a lot of similar guidelines and expectations, they also differ in many ways. The IFRS employs more of a “principles based” accounting standards whereas GAAP utilizes more of a “rules based” approach. Even though there are differences between terminology, revenue recognition, gains and/or losses, and statement presentation, both standards do follow the same conceptual guidelines. With the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) of 2002, the standards expected of foreign countries are significantly less than those that reside as publically

An impairment loss is equal to the excess of the carrying amount over the fair value of the asset. Thus, once it is determined that carrying value will not be recovered, an impairment loss must be recognized”. For purposes of testing for recoverability and measuring an impairment loss, individual long-lived assets should be grouped with other assets forming the lowest level for which identifiable cash flows are largely independent of those of the entity's other assets. Note, though, that, if an impairment loss is recognized, it should be applied only to the long-lived assets in the group that are covered by FASB ASC 360-10 ; thus, other assets in the group are not affected but should, if necessary, be adjusted for impairment in accordance with other applicable GAAP. As defined in FASB ASC 350-10: “Goodwill should be part of an asset group to be tested for impairment only if the group is itself a “reporting unit” or includes such a unit”. Note that when we want to evaluate or compute the implied goodwill or test goodwill impairment, we should include the combined net assets of Plant 3 which includes property, plant and equipment. 8A-Impairment or Disposal of Long-Lived Assets (WG&L) provided relevant parts that: “impairment occurs when the carrying amount of asset is not recoverable and a write-off is needed”. The section also mentioned about various events and changes in circumstances might lead to an impairment

Explanation: Both IFRS and GAAP have different requirements about the measurement and process for revaluating fixed assets to fair value.

One of the major differences is that one is based on rules and the other on principles. GAAP is more of a a rule-based method. These rules are essential to provide comparison of present and past performances. Whereas IFRS is a principle based method in which you can have different interpretations of the same tax-related

There are several differences between the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and the U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). The IFRS is considered more of a "principles based" accounting standard in contrast to U.S. GAAP which is considered more "rules based." By being more "principles based", IFRS, arguably, represents and captures the economics of a transaction better than U.S. GAAP. As a team me collaborated to answer the following seven questions.

Two types of accounting systems exist. The US GAAP is more rule-based, where IFRS is more principle-based. US GAAP gives very detailed methods of accounting and specific guidance. However, there are exceptions along with rules, which add complexity. In the contrast, IFRS allows potential for different interpretations of similar transactions. Auditors and financial statement reporters can use professional judgment to provide estimates in the financial statements because they cannot rely on specific rules that articulate what is supposed to be done.

Fair value measurements have the power to provide users of financial statements with an accurate depiction of the value of the company’s assets. IFRS and GAAP are strict in the fact that they require the firms to include information regarding fair value measurement practices in the notes of financial statements. When following either system, the companies will be required to report assets at either book value or fair value. The outcome really just depends on the situation. All assets in the same class must

IFRS2-2 GAAP and IFRS do have the same views of financial data. The GAAP and IFRS always agree the reporting of financial data should always be faithfully represented. Any information that is reliable and relevant will be very helpful to investors and creditors. Also financial information that is represented faithfully should really abide by the standards of the industry.

The country selected for this study is the United Kingdom (UK). UK Generally Accepted Accounting Practice (GAAP) has been in place for a long period of time and was harmonized in 2005 so as to comply with the international accounting standards. The UK embraced the principles of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in 2005 after the European Union (EU) mandated that all members that were publicly listed companies be subject to reporting under the International Accounting Standards (IAS). This was to help facilitate that those listed companies could easily be compared to onr other on their performance and transparency was improved since they were now subject to the same principles of reporting. Companies in the United

The US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) is a set of international accounting rules which originated from the United States. US GAAP can be defined as a set of accounting principles, standards and procedures that companies use to compile their financial statements (Elliott & Elliott, 2008). The International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) on the other hand are accounting rules originating from the United Kingdom. International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) are a set of accounting rules designed with a common global language for business affairs so that financial accounts of companies are understandable and comparable across international boundaries (Devinney, Pedersen & Tihanyi, 2010).

With complete notion and awareness of how each country has their set of rules, “the goal of IFRS is to provide a global framework for how public companies prepare and disclose their financial statements” (Rouse, 2011). This view is meant to provide general guidelines, as well as international comparisons through conventional and edifying means. To bring broader and vivid objectives, IFRS replaced IAS, the older standards, in order to bring a more comprehensive and simplified accounting procedures.